Physicians vs. Administration

This week Jason and I presented our second lesson on the topic of the separation between physicians and administration in healthcare. In our research, I came across an article from kevinmd.com that I really enjoyed, and found a lot of merit in. It discussed how physicians and administrators viewed patient satisfaction scores very differently and how that effected the organization as a whole. At one point, the article stated:

"We all knew that a patient might be happier if we order up that MRI his brother-in-law recommended for his backache, if we hand out antibiotics for likely viruses, or write a narcotics prescriptions for malingering addicts, or decline to tell obese problem drinkers that they need to quit the vodka and eat fewer Big Macs. Giving patients exactly what they want will score satisfaction points, but it’s often costly to the system and detrimental to individual and public health...I found that although everyone’s priority is quality care for our patients, ER docs and nurses spoke a different language than the quality geeks. Sometimes they talked right past each other. “A hospital isn’t a hotel; patients shouldn’t expect to be pampered,” said the ER nurse. “We should learn from the hospitality industry, and patients should be treated like guests at a four-star hotel,” said the quality administrators.The disconnect was profound". 

The author eventually concluded that from his own expereiences and observations is that real quality is not a zero sum game. People remember the overall way they were treated during the time spent at a facility and that is what resonates through the patient satisfaction reports. If overall, they patient and their family have a pleasant experience and there's no specific event that stands out to them as poor service, they will most likely be pleased. But it goes without saying that you simply cannot please everyone.

Though I don't have any clinical experience trying to please patients and their families, I have had several customer service based jobs and if it's given me anything, it's thinker skin. People will exert their anger on you when things are not your fault, and sometimes emotions can spike at unnecessary times based on other things that are going on in someones life. I think in order to succeed in any position you have to learn to take criticism or insults constructively and realize that sometimes, there's nothing you can do to change someones mind. If you do the best job you can, and are confident in your work, you should not always change your actions just because someone has something negative to say about it.